Ohio AG Bags 13 Suspects In Alleged Mortgage Fraud Scam Involving 30+ Properties

From the Office of the Ohio Attorney General:

• Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray and the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission announced [Wednesday] details of an investigation which has led to the indictments of 13 people(1) alleged to have perpetrated a $9 million mortgage fraud scheme involving more than 30 properties in central Ohio.

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• Investigators report that more than 30 loan transactions are at issue in this case and some properties were recycled through multiple fraudulent loan transactions. It is alleged that loan applications and documents were falsified on behalf of borrowers, and that orchestrators made down payments allowing borrowers to secure loans in which tens of thousands of dollars were laundered through fictitious home contractor companies.

For the entire Ohio AG press release, see Investigation of Alleged Mortgage Fraud Scheme Leads to 83-Count Indictment.

Go here for the indictment.

(1) Benjamin Tubbs, 49, of Pickerington, Kevin Murphy, 50, of Blacklick, and Karl Mullins, 33, formerly of Columbus and now residing in Florida, are alleged to have acted as the mortgage brokers and orchestrators of a scheme to buy and sell houses at highly-inflated prices and to falsify loan documents in order to skim ten of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars from each sale. Also indicted are: Cynthia Underdew, 53, of Columbus (loan officer and mortgage loan coordinator); Karen Axline, 48, of Granville (operated the now-defunct Granville Title Agency); Kevin Gray, 48, of Reynoldsburg; Nina Masseria and Tim Arrington of Carriage Trade Realty (real estate agents); appraisers Joseph Colegrove and Scott Walisa and assistant appraiser Terri White; Earron West, 38, of Columbus (loan officer); and Nina Dearing, 29, of Columbus.